Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Barchart
Barchart
Rich Asplund

Stocks Settle Sharply Higher as Microsoft Leads a Surge in Tech Stocks

The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) on Thursday closed up +1.66%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI) (DIA) closed up +1.19%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) closed up +3.36%. September E-mini S&P futures (ESU26) rose +1.65%, and September E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQU26) rose +3.28%.

Stock indexes settled sharply higher on Thursday after strong growth at Microsoft reassured investors that massive spending on artificial intelligence is starting to pay off. Microsoft surged more than +15% after reporting that Q4 Azure and other cloud services revenue ex-forex rose +43%, better than the consensus of +39.3% and the fastest quarterly growth in four years. Microsoft's positive earnings also eased AI spending concerns and fueled a sharp rally in chipmakers and AI-infrastructure stocks, pushing the overall market even higher. The markets will get another look at megacap earnings when Amazon.com and Apple report after Thursday’s close.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.